Netflix's Sacred Games controversy: The story so far

Moneycontrol News 

The Delhi High Court has asked whether a plea against the removal of certain scenes from Netflix's Sacred Games can be heard as public interest litigation (PIL).

The court Monday said actors cannot be held accountable for the dialogues.

The bench, comprising of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar, also said the petition is not urgent since all eight episodes have been aired already.

The petition claims some scenes from the web-series allegedly defame former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The court will next hear the petition on Thursday, July 19.

How did the controversy begin?

Netflix released the web-series on July 6 across 190 countries.

The controversy began with Rajiv Kumar Sinha, a Congress leader in West Bengal, filing a police complaint against actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Netflix and the show's makers for "insulting and abusing" Rajiv Gandhi.

Nikhil Bhalla, a Delhi-based lawyer, filed the petition through advocates Shashank Garg and Tariq Khan.

The petition accuses the show of inaccurately representing historic events such as the Bofors case, Shah Bano case, Babri Masjid case and communal riots.

Also read - Netflix original Sacred Games a huge hit in India, second season in the works

How have the Gandhi family and the Congress reacted?

Congress President and Rajiv Gandhi's son Rahul Gandhi has said freedom of expression is a fundamental right.

"My father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

BJP/RSS believe the freedom of expression must be policed & controlled. I believe this freedom is a fundamental democratic right.

My father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that.#SacredGames

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 14, 2018

But Rahul Gandhi's views appear to contradict his party's stance. Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi has spoken in favour of the petition, saying freedom of expression is being used to "spread a whole set of lies is a conspiracy"

How has Netflix India and the cast responded? 

Netflix India has so far not responded to the controversy. Director Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane have so far not made official statements regarding the petition.

The show's cast includes Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. Of the three, only Khan has reacted publicly.

"There's no genuine cause for outrage. We wouldn’t genuinely want to upset anyone. It's not the style of Netflix." Khan told Quint.